21 November 2014

Chocolate brown

November's edition of the ROY G BIV* challenge fell on my daughter's birthday this year, so here are a few photos of what was happening in the kitchen yesterday... Lots of chocolate, as I went about preparing her cake, which fits perfect with this month's theme of "brown." After the success of the ice cream cake that my daughter concocted for my birthday last month (inspired by the sublime mint "After Eight" gelato at our favorite local gelateria), I knew I would have to create a gelato-based variation for her special day too.While I never could bring myself to order a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks when we were in the US this past summer (the only "sweetening" I like in my coffee is milk), the concept is pretty fascinating to us——we are used to a very different coffee culture here. (In Italy, a "latte" means a glass of milk, and jargon that is normale in coffee shops across the US doesn't exist.) My daughter did enjoy the Caramel Macchiato she tried over the summer though——and she loves the caffè-flavored gelato from the gelateria of the "After Eight" fame, so I decided to use it as the starting point for what turned out to be the tallest cake ever made in our kitchen!I made a sketch of the "anatomy" of the cake to make sure I had everything straight as I assembled it...

The cake was also drizzled with caramel sauce...Between all of the birthday preparations & festivities yesterday, I didn't have much time for photos, but here are a few more of the 500 grams (!) of chocolate used for the ganache frosting...

admiring...

melting...

whisking...

So, today is all about transforming the chaos of the studio (lots of studio-made gifts) into some kind of work-able order again...and eating leftover cake!! Wish I could share...

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The ROY G BIV photo challenge was first begun by artistsJennifer Coyne Qudeen &Julie Booth. Each month is devotedto a different color of the rainbow, though at the moment weare deviating from the actual ROY colors. All are welcome tojoin in the search. To conclude this year's edition, nextmonth's color is blogger's choice! Please visit their blogsfor links to other participants. Guidelines are here.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Maya! And yes - I agree...what would we do without chocolate?! My daughter is now seventeen (!), and loves chocolate...but when she was little I used to tell her: "Chocolate is for mommies." Somewhere along the line she figured out otherwise...- Lisa

Thank you, Julie! Funny about the sketch - it kind of reminds me of the "wall sections" we used to draw. And yes, my daughter had a very happy birthday! I can't believe the timing with "brown" this month, because I don't think I would have managed to participate in ROY this month otherwise...- Lisa

Mmmm, yes - 70%! I considered a higher percentage of cacao, but wanted to balance the flavor of the espresso in both cake & gelato so didn't want to go too "bitter" for the ganache...it all worked out. Even my daughter's non-chocolate loving friend enjoyed the cake (she liked the coffee inclusions).Thanks for stopping by for a visit - I'm off to see what everyone came up with for ROY...- Lisa

I agree about the chocolate & caramel! Interesting though, as I looked through everyone else's "brown" posts, that for the most part the themes other artists explored were very nature-inspired - yours was especially lovely & poetic. In general the natural browns were so much gentler that the chocolate-brown (which seems quite intense coming back to it again)! I really do love seeing the different possibilities with the ROY challenge...- Lisa

Lisa and Ella,A little bit late, but still time for sending best wishes from sunny Brazil to both of you.I didn´t know Ella was born in November, just like Ana Laura! Last weekend while I was cooking the always-present-brigadeiros I remembered you. This year I did the spoon version, creamy and served in tiny cups with tiny spoons.They were delicious, wish I could share some with you.Happy birthday!Love, Vera

Hello, Vera - and thank you for the birthday wishes! Please pass on ours to Ana Laura too... How I wish we could have had some of your brigadeiros...we still have a can of condensed milk just waiting to be used to make some. It crossed my mind to do so for Ella's birthday, but I didn't want to risk a chocolate overload : )- Lisa

ARZIGOGOLARE is the second incarnation of my original blog, which I began after The Piazzas of Florence was published. As my focus shifted, the blog has evolved to include glimpses into everyday life in Florence + what's happening in my studio & kitchen.